Voyage of the Damned (Part 2)

"Doctor, I rather think those things have got our scent," Mr. Copper said as the banging of the Host reached them.

"I'm not waiting," Rickston replied, starting across the makeshift bridge.

"Careful!" the Doctor called, getting up and rushing around the group to watch Rickston, "Take it slowly!"

There was a rumble as the ship rocked, nearly knocking Rickston off the beam.

"Damn it!" Evy hissed, drawing Foon and Astrid's attention, "So close," she didn't actually wish death on the man, but he was seriously gnawing at her last nerve, which was hard to do considering the patience of a Time Lord.

"Vot help me," Rickston mumbled.

"You're okay," the Doctor told him, "One step at a time. Come on, you can do it."

"Kill," they could hear the robots repeating as they drew closer, "Kill. Kill."

"They're getting nearer!" Mr. Copper shouted.

"Doctor," Evy twisted to face him, "Seal us in."

He looked at her a moment before nodding and whipping out the sonic, flashing the door to do just that.

"Leaving us trapped, wouldn't you say?" Mr. Copper asked.

"Never say trapped, just inconveniently circumstanced," the Doctor replied.

"Oh," Mr. Copper nodded.

"I'm ok!" Rickston called, as though they cared. He was halfway across.

"Maybe he's alright," Foon mumbled. Evy looked back down as she and Astrid hugged the woman, "Maybe…maybe there's a gravity curve down there or something. I don't know. Maybe he's unconscious."

"I'm sorry, Foon," Astrid began, tears in her eyes as she hugged her more.

"He's gone," Evy confirmed.

"What am I going to do without him?" Foon cried desperately, breaking down between them. Astrid and Evy shared a concerned look before hugging the woman as best they could.

"Yes!" Rickston shouted, making it across, "Oh yes! Who's good?"

"Bannakaffalatta, you go next," the Doctor ordered.

"Bannakaffalatta small," the alien agreed.

"Slowly!" the Doctor warned as the alien tried to scamper across. Bannakaffalatta slowed down, being more careful.

The robots pounded on the door.

"They've found us!" Mr. Copper called.

"Astrid," the Doctor reached out, pulling Astrid up, "Get across right now."

"What about you?" she asked, looking at him and Evy.

"We'll be fine," Evy assured her, rocking Foon a bit.

"Just do it," the Doctor pushed her, "Go on," she started across, "Mr. Copper, we can't wait. Don't argue," he nudged Copper towards the beam as well. He turned to Evy and Foon, nodding at Evy who began to heft the woman up, "Foon, you've got to get across right now."

"What for?" she mumbled brokenly, "What am I gonna do without him?"

"Doctor!" Rickston called, "The door's locked!"

"You're gonna live," Evy told the woman.

"Just think...what would he want, eh?" the Doctor agreed.

"He don't want nothing, he's dead!" she sobbed.

"You think he'd want you to die too?" Evy asked, stepping in front of the woman and lifting her face, "Is that really what you think he'd want?"

"Doctor, I can't open the door," Rickston called, "We need the whirring key thing of yours!"

The Doctor looked torn between the two groups of people, the humans trying to survive or the woman he knew was his Link who seemed unwilling to leave Foon. He reached out towards Evy, gently taking her arm, but she wrenched free, "I'm not leaving her," she stated.

"She'll get us all killed if we can't get out!" Rickston called over to them, seeing them hesitate.

"I can't leave you," the Doctor admitted, "Please Evy," he whispered, resting his forehead against the back of her head, "I can't lose you too, I…I can't be the last one again…"

Evy let out a breath, shaking her head a bit before turning her attention back to Foon, "Foon," she lifted the woman's head again, looking her straight in the eyes, "We are coming back for you, alright?" she left no room for argument from the Doctor with her tone, not that he would argue, he wanted to help the woman just as much as she did.

Foon nodded and the Doctor gently pulled Evy away from her and towards the beam. He sent her across first, following close behind, both trying to ignore the metal creaking under the weight of all five of them crossing.

"Too many people!" Bannakaffalatta called back.

"Oi!" the Doctor yelled back, "Don't get spiky with me! Keep going!"

"It's gonna fall!" Astrid shouted.

"It's settling!" Evy reassured her, "Just keep going!"

Suddenly it became very quiet, the pounding stopping.

Evy tensed, "Doctor…" she looked over her shoulder at him, "Why's it stopped?"

"They've stopped!" Astrid shouted, happily.

"Gone away?" Bannakaffalatta frowned.

"Why would they give up?" the Doctor asked himself.

"I don't think they have," Evy shook her head, they had to be up to something.

"Never mind that," Rickston called, "Keep coming!"

"Where have they gone?" the Doctor looked back at the door for a moment before turning to Evy as though she would have the answer, "Where are the Host?"

She could only shake her head, she had no idea.

"I'm afraid..." Mr. Copper's voice drifted over to them, "…we forgot the tradition of Christmas…" they looked over at him to see him staring up, "That angels have wings!"

He pointed and they all looked up to see the robots gliding down from above and circling them.

"Information: kill," they said, reaching for their halos.

"Doctor…" Evy mumbled, he looked over at her as he stood up, "When we get back to the TARDIS…I'm burning that suit."

He would have laughed at her had the robots not moved to the ready, preparing themselves to throw their halos, "Arm yourselves!" he shouted to the rest, "All of you!"

Everyone reached around them for pipes and bits of metal to defend themselves with as the robots threw their halos. Evy grabbed a fairly light pipe and slammed a halo with it, batting it away. She twisted the metal with her wrist, prepared and ready to hit the next one. She was doing slightly better than the rest of the group, having managed to hit a halo back at the robot it came from, cutting off its head. But her attention was broken by a grunt from behind her. She turned to see a halo flying past the Doctor, him holding his arm as he was grazed.

"Doctor!" she called, "Are you alright?'

"I'm fine," he groaned, swinging the pipe and smashing a halo away again.

As Evy turned around to focus on the disks, one flew right past her. She managed to lean over enough to avoid it, but it was too much, she fell off the side of the beam.

"Evy!" the Doctor shouted, reaching out for her, but a disk flew past him. He stumbled back, managing to catch his footing and looked over to see that Evy had managed to grab onto the edge of the beam. He ran to her side and began pulling her up.

She gasped as she managed to climb back onto the beam as Mr. Copper called out as well. Evy looked over to see Astrid falling to her knees, "I can't," the young woman gasped.

Bannakaffalatta stood up, "Bannakaffalatta stop! Bannakaffalatta proud! Bannakaffalatta cyborg!"

They watched in awe as the small alien lifted his shirt, discharging energy, completely disabling the robots which all fell into the engines below save one that fell onto the beam just behind the Doctor.

"Electromagnetic pulse short circuited them," Evy gasped, looking over the Doctor's shoulders as he held her to him. She almost breathed a sigh of relief when another wave of regenerative pain hit her, she tensed.

"Oh, Bannakaffalatta, that was brilliant!" the Doctor called, his arms still around Evy, who was shaking just a bit in his arms. He rubbed her arm, trying to calm her down, assuming she was shaken from their close encounter with the Host.

But then Bannakaffalatta fell back, Astrid scrambling to his side, "He's used all his power!" she called back to them.

"Did good?" the small alien asked, looking up at Astrid.

"You saved our lives," she told him.

"Bannakaffalatta happy," he smiled.

"We can recharge you, get you to a power point and just plug you in!" Astrid moved to press a button on his stomach but the alien laid a hand on hers.

"Too late."

"No, but...you gotta get me that drink, remember?" Astrid tried to smile even as her voice broke.

The Doctor's arms tightened around Evy as he watched the interaction between the woman and alien, Evy shifted in his arms, relaxing from the pain as she turned to face Astrid and Bannakaffalatta as well.

"Pretty girl," Bannakaffalatta murmured before his eyes fluttered closed.

Evy squeezed the Doctor's arms in comfort as they watched Astrid move to button up his little shirt. Mr. Copper reached out and stopped her a moment, his hand lingering over the cybernetic power source, "I'm sorry," he muttered, "Forgive me."

"Leave him alone," Astrid defended, trying to button the shirt up again.

"It's the EMP transmitter," Mr. Copper explained, pulling it out, "He…he'd want us to use it. I used to sell these things. They'd always give me a bed for the night in the cyborg caravans. They're good people. But if we can recharge it, we can reuse it as a weapon against the rest of the Host. Bannakaffalatta might have saved us all."

"Do you think?" Rickston called out to them, "Try telling him that!" he pointed behind them and they turned to see the fallen robot beginning to move.

"Information: reboot," it said as it stood up.

"Use the EMP!"

"It's dead!" Mr. Copper replied.

"It's gotta have emergency…" Astrid began, trying to take the EMP from Mr. Copper as the Doctor turned around to face the robot, trying to keep Evy behind him.

"No, no, no," he held up his hands as he faced it, "Hold on. Override loophole security protocol...10! 666!"

"Doctor!" Evy shouted, trying to get around him.

"Oh," he continued, "21, 4, 5!"

"Doctor!" she tried again.

"6, 7, 8," he ignored her, "Um, I dunno, 42!"

"1!" Evy shouted moments before the robot could slash the Doctor.

It stopped mid-motion and stood passively, Evy could practically feel the Doctor droop in front of her in relief as the robot spoke, "Information: state request."

"Good...right," the Doctor nodded slowly, "You've been ordered to kill the survivors, but why?"

"Information: no witnesses."

"But this ship's gonna fall on the Earth and kill everyone. The human race have nothing to do with the Titanic so that contravenes your orders, yes?"

"Information: incorrect."

"But why do you want to destroy the Earth?" Evy peeked around his arms.

"Information: it is the plan."

"What plan?" the Doctor frowned.

"Information: protocol grants you only three questions. These three questions have been used."

"Well, you could have warned me," the Doctor grumbled.

"Information: now you will die," the robot readied to strike the Doctor once more when suddenly a lasso was thrown over its head and tightened.

"You're coming with me," Foon said, nodding at the Doctor and Evy before closing her eyes and jumping over the side of the beam, taking the robot with her.

"No!" Evy shouted, reaching for the woman, but the Doctor held her back, "Foon!"

They could only watch, helpless, as Foon fell and disappeared in the fire of the engines. Evy let out a shuddered breath as she closed her eyes, almost as though willing that event to have not transpired.

"No more," the Doctor mumbled in her ear as he hugged her tightly to him for a moment, "No more."

He reached out, taking her hand before gently pulling her away from the edge and towards the rest of the group who had begun climbing to platform where Rickston was standing.

The Doctor used the sonic to open the doors and they found themselves in another maintenance corridor, "Right," he looked around, "Get up to Reception One. Once you're there, Mr. Copper, you've got staff access to the computer. Try and find a way of transmitting an SOS," he turned to Astrid, holding out the EMP, "Astrid, you're in charge of this. Once it's powered up, it'll take out Hosts within fifty yards but then it needs sixty seconds to recharge. Got it?" he turned to Rickston, giving him the sonic, "Rickston, take this, I've preset it. Just hold down that button. It'll open doors. Do not lose it! You got that?" Rickston nodded, "Now go and open the next door. Go on! Go!"

"Alright!" Rickston turned and ran down the hall.

The Doctor reached down and picked up a First Aid kit, handing it to Evy, "I need you to look after them," he told her, "Keep them fighting fit and…"

"No," Evy said as the Doctor continued.

He spun around to face her again as she handed the kit off to Mr. Copper, "What?"

"I'm going with you Doctor," she stated firmly.

"No, you're not," he walked up to her, "I need you to stay here, stay safe…"

"While you go and run to face the danger?" she glared at him, "I've already told you Doctor, I'm going to look after you no matter what and that means I'm going with you."

"You're not coming with us?" Astrid looked between the two, a bit frightened.

The Doctor sighed, "There's something on Deck 31. I'm…"

"We're," Evy stressed.

The Doctor looked back over at her, about to say something, when he suddenly paused. The look on her face, it was a look he'd seen on many soldiers on the front lines of the Time War. She was determined like nothing else. She would go with him if she had to shackle herself to him. He sighed, "We're," he agreed, "Gonna find out what it is."

"Astrid," Evy turned to the woman, "Where's the power point?"

"Under the comms.," Astrid answered, nodding to the side.

Evy took her hand and ran over to the power point, she knelt down, pulling Astrid along and held the EMP up to it, showing her how to recharge it, "When it's ready, that blue light comes on there."

Astrid frowned, "What if you meet a Host?" she was very concerned for the lives of her two new friends.

"Well, then I'll…" the Doctor began.

"We'll," Evy corrected again.

"We'll," he amended, "Just...have some fun, eh?"

"Sounds like you do this kind of thing all the time," Astrid commented, standing.

"All the time," Evy agreed.

"Not by choice," the Doctor defended, "All we do is travel. That's what I am, just a traveler. Imagine it. No tax, no bills, no boss, just the open sky."

"I'm sort of...unemployed now and I was thinking the blue box is kinda small, but I could kinda squeeze in," Astrid began, blushing and looking down.

"Like a stowaway," Evy smiled.

"It's not always safe," the Doctor warned.

"You need someone to take care of you," she looked between them, but her gaze lingered on Evy. She'd seen something off about the girl from the first few moments she met them, there was something going on, something painful that she didn't want the Doctor to know. If she had another person around, she could help, "I've got no one back on Sto, no family, just me. So what do you think? Can I come with you?"

The Doctor paused a moment, considering it, before looking at Evy. The girl's smile just widened as she saw the Doctor giving her the chance to help him make the choice, as though there were one, "I'd like that."

The Doctor began to smile too and turned to Astrid, nodding, "Yes."

The ship lurched again, shaking the passengers.

"Mr. Frame, you still with us?" Evy called into the comm. beside her.

"It's the engines, ma'am," Frame responded, strained, "Final phase. There's nothing more I can do. We've got only eight minutes left!"

"Don't worry, I…" the Doctor began but cut off when Evy glared at him, "We'll get there."

"The bridge is sealed off!"

"Yeah, yeah, working on it. We'll get there Mr. Frame, somehow."

The EMP lit up, "All charged up?" Evy looked down at it before nodding to herself.

"Mr. Copper, look after her," the Doctor ordered gently, "Astrid, look after him. Rickston, um...look after yourself."

"We'll see you again," Evy swore, crossing her hearts, "Promise."

They turned to leave when Astrid called out to them, "Wait!"

The Doctor turned to see Astrid running towards them, "We've really got to go."

"Just wait a minute!" Astrid shouted, before lunging at them and pulling them into a tight hug, "Be careful!"

Evy pulled away after a moment, smiling gently at the girl, "You as well."

The Doctor nodded, taking Evy's hand and pulling her down the hall. They ran around a corner and down another hall, ending up in another kitchen, only to come face-to-face with four robots. The Doctor looked around quickly before picking up a large pot to use for a weapon and pushing Evy behind him.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" he shouted.

"Security protocol one!" Evy called at the same time.

"Do you hear that?" he looked around, "One! One!" the robots stopped advancing, standing passively. He let out a breath of relief, putting down the pan, "Ok, that gives me three questions. Three questions to save my life, am I right?"

"Information: correct."

"Doctor!" Evy shouted at the waste of a question.

"No, that wasn't one of them," he defended, "I didn't mean it. That's not fair. Can I start again?"

"Information: no."

Suddenly there was a sharp pain on the back of his head. He flinched and turned around to see Evy, standing there, looking at her hand in shock, "Did you just…smack me?"

"Upside the head," Evy nodded, distracted, "Yeah."

"Why?" he frowned, completely confused.

"You were being an idiot," she answered, as though it were obvious.

"And you decided that was a good reason to smack me?"

"Apparently!"

He looked back to see that the robots were still standing there, seeming to have known his last two questions were not directed at them. He looked at Evy, deciding to leave that discussion for another time.

"One question left, one question," he spun around, running a hand through his hair before facing the robots, "So, you've been given orders to kill the survivors but survivors must therefore be passengers or staff, but not me.."

"Us," she corrected once again.

"Us," he amended, wincing, it would take a while before he could fully realize that he truly wasn't alone anymore…it just felt so strange, "We're not passengers. We're not staff. Go on, scan us. You must have bio-records. No such persons on board," the robots looked up as they finished their scans, "We don't exist therefore..."

"You can't kill us," Evy finished, "We're stowaways and stowaways should be arrested and…"

"Taken to the nearest figure of authority," he nodded, grinning a bit, it was actually quite fun to be able to bounce ideas off of someone else, someone who could actually keep up.

"And the nearest figure of authority must be on Deck 31," she grinned as well.

"Final question," he turned to the robots, "Are we right?"

"Information: correct."

"Brilliant," he laughed, "Take me to your leader," he looked over at Evy who just rolled her eyes at him, "I've always wanted to say that."

"I know," she replied as a robot took hold of their arms and led them out of the kitchens and down to Deck 31.

~8~

Astrid, Mr. Copper, and Rickston ran into the main lobby, to reception, Astrid using the EMP to take out the robots waiting there.

"Rickston, seal the doors, make the room secure," Astrid ordered, taking command, "Mr. Copper, keep an eye on the Host," she handed him the EMP before rushing over to the computer, "I need to check the computer. We need that SOS," she fiddled with the computer but it was down for now. She slammed her fist against it in frustration before turning to see the teleport bracelets stacked there. She ran for the comm. link, "Bridge, this is Reception!"

"Who's there?" Frame responded.

"Astrid Peth. I was with the Doctor and Evy. Tell me, can you divert power to the teleport system?"

"No way. I'm using everything I got to keep the engines running."

"It's just one trip. I need to get to Deck 31."

"And I'm telling you no."

"Mr. Frame..." Astrid took a breath, trying to control herself, "This is for the Doctor, for Evy. They've gone down there on their own, and I...I can't just leave them. They've done everything they can to save us. And…and Evy…" she dropped her voice just a bit, "She's hurt…I don't know by what, but she's in a lot of pain and…I'm worried she won't be able to make it. She needs help. Please, it's time we did something to help them, to help her."

There was silence for a moment before Frame came back online, "Giving you power."

~8~

The two Time Lords were pulled into the storage facility on Deck 31, more structural damage around them than they expected for the place having been so fortified on the scans of the ship, small fires had even begun to spring up.

"Now that is what you call a fixer-upper," the Doctor commented, looking around, "Come on then, Host with the most, this ultimate authority of yours, who is it?" just then two doors slid open as he and Evy spun around, "Ooh, that's clever. That's an omnistate impact chamber. Indestructible. You can survive anything in that, eh?"

A vehicle started to wheel out as Evy continued the Doctor's line of thought, "You could sit through a supernova or a shipwreck. But only one person could have the power and the money to hide themselves onboard like this and we should know, because..."

"My name...is Max," the head of Max Capricorn said, coming in full view to show them his head attached to a life support system. He smiled, his gold tooth glinting.

"It really does that?" Evy asked, her eyes just slightly wide at how comical and ridiculous that was.

"Who the hell are they?" Max spat, seeing the two standing there.

"I'm the Doctor," the Doctor grinned, "And this is Evy. Hello."

"Information: stowaways," a robot added.

"Kill them," Max ordered.

The Doctor's eyes widened and flashed to Evy before he tried to step towards Max only to be held back by the robots, "Oh, no, no! Wait, but you can't. Not now. Come on, Max...you've given me so much good material like...how to get ahead in business!" he looked around but no one looked very impressed, Evy was just staring at him as though he'd gone insane, "See 'head?' 'Head in business?'" he tried, looking at Evy, "No?"

"No," she shook her head, "Don't…just don't."

He pouted a bit.

"Oh, ho ho, the office joker," Max said after a moment, "I like a funny man. No one's been funny with me for years."

"I wonder why?" Evy replied a bit sarcastically.

"176 years of running the company have taken their toll."

"Yeah, but...nice wheels," the Doctor grinned.

"No, a life-support system in a society that despises cyborgs. I've had to hide away for years. Running the company by hologram. Host, situation report."

"Information: Titanic is still in orbit," the only robot not holding one of them back replied.

"Let me see," Max wheeled himself forward, the Doctor managing to pull himself from the grip of the robots to go stand next to the man by the edge, staring down at the engines, "We should have crashed by now. What's gone wrong?" Max looked down to see the engines still burning, "The engines are still running! They should have stopped!"

"When they do, the Earth will be destroyed," Evy called back, struggling a bit in the robot's grasp. The prolonged regenerative pains were taking their toll on her. She was exhausted, physically, emotionally, but she could also feel the regenerative afterglow fading within her, being burned up by her body…a severe alternative to allowing it to just disperse into the Universe but she would bear it.

"I don't understand," the Doctor shook his head, "What's the Earth got to do with it?"

"This interview is terminated," Max wheeled away.

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" the Doctor called, rushing in front of them, his back to Evy.

Evy let out a bit of a groan, hunching over in the robot's grip as a pain hit her. She scrunched her eyes shut, willing the pain to go away before the Doctor could see her…unbeknownst to her, another set of eyes had seen her plight.

Astrid crept around a corner and peeked through, her eyes widening as she saw the Doctor talking to a cyborg while Evy seemed in a great deal of pain.

"Hold on!" the Doctor shouted, holding out a hand to stop Max, "Hold on! Hold on! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! I can work it out. It's like a task. I'm your apprentice. Just watch me. So...business is failing and you wreck the ship so that makes things even worse. Oh yes! No. Yes. The business isn't failing…"

"It's failed," Evy said, straightening up, though there was a small layer of sweat on her brow, "Past tense."

The Doctor looked back at her and nodded, just as he suspected.

"My own board voted me out," Max grumbled, "Stabbed me in the back."

"If you had a back," he commented, "So...you scupper the ship, wipe out any survivors in case anyone's rumbled you and the board find their shares halved in value. Oh, but that's not enough. No, 'cos if a Max Capricorn ship hits the Earth, it destroys an entire planet. Outrage back home. Scandal! The business is wiped out."

"And...the whole board thrown in jail for mass murder."

"While you sit there, safe inside that impact chamber," Evy finished.

"I have men waiting to retrieve me from the ruins and enough off-world accounts to retire me to the beaches of Pentaxico Two where the ladies, so I'm told, are very fond of...metal," Max leered, catching sight of Evy, "But perhaps, I should take a companion with me, it should be quite a long wait till they dig through the rubble."

Unconsciously, the Doctor's eyes narrowed and he stepped in front of Evy, blocking the cyborg's view of her, "So that's the plan," he half spat, indignant not only at his lack of respect for human life, but for his intentions with Evy, "A retirement plan. 2,000 on this ship, 6 billion underneath us, all of them slaughtered. And why? Because Max Capricorn is a loser."

"I never lose."

"You can't even sink the Titanic," the Doctor retorted, a bit smug.

"Oh, but I can, Doctor. I can cancel the engines from here."

Suddenly alarms began to sound.

"You can't do this!" Evy shouted, staring at the man in horror, 6 billion people were about to burn because of one man's inferiority complex.

The Doctor, seeming to be of the same mind, tried to lunge at the cyborg, "Host, hold him," Max ordered.

Two robots stepped forward and grabbed him by the arms, pulling him back to stand by Evy, still struggling in her robot's grip.

"Not so clever now, Doctor," Max laughed, "A shame we couldn't work together. You're rather good…" his gaze turned to Evy, "Rather smart…" the girl had the feeling he wasn't talking about her brains at all, "All that banter yet not a word wasted. Time for me to retire. The Titanic is falling. The sky will burn. Let the Christmas inferno commence. Oh! Oh, Host! Kill them."

The one robot not holding them stepped forward, removing its halo as it moved to stand in front of the Doctor, preparing to strike.

"Mr. Capricorn!" someone shouted. They all looked over to see Astrid sitting in a forklift, "I resign."

She started the forklift and rushed at the cyborg.

"Astrid don't!" Evy shouted, seeing what the woman was planning to do.

Astrid managed to get the front of the forklift under Max's life-support unit and continued to ram him, trying to push him back but having no luck. The robot turned away from the Doctor and moved to throw its halo at Astrid, just barely missing her and hitting the frame of the forklift.

"He's cut the break line!" the Doctor shouted, his eyes wide in horror, Astrid wouldn't be able to stop now.

Astrid looked over at the Doctor and then to Evy, an understanding passing between the three of them.

"No!" he yelled as Astrid turned back and raised the lift higher, lifting Max off the ground enough where he lost traction. She stepped on the gas, driving Max back until they both fell over the edge.

"Astrid!" Evy called, breaking from her robot and running to the edge, kneeling down and looking over as the Doctor did the same.

They watched in horror as she fell towards the engines, all the while reaching up towards them.

The Doctor looked over at Evy who was staring down the ledge in shock, shaking like a leaf. He reached out, putting an arm around her. It took her a moment to associate the hug with the Doctor before she turned and buried her face in his chest as she returned the hug.

She didn't have long to take comfort in the Doctor's embrace as the ship jolted terribly, reminding them that there was still the failing engines to deal with, "You alright?" he asked, pulling away but his hands were on her cheeks, forcing her to look up at him. She nodded, standing up with him as he turned and led them back towards the containment area Max had built for himself where the robots were now waiting.

He hesitated, eyeing them warily, but the main robot put its halo back on its head and turned to face them, waiting.

"Their programming," Evy said, her voice a bit hoarse, "Highest authority gone, moves onto the second in command…" she glanced up at the Doctor, trying to smile, "I think that's you."

"Oh," the Doctor's eyes widened as he looked at the robots, "Isn't that wizard?"

He stepped forward, holding out his arms at his sides, the robots stepping forward to stand on either side of him, taking his arms in their own. He looked over at Evy and nodded. She stepped forward as well, putting her arms around his neck and hugging herself to him as he wrapped his arms around her. He lifted a hand, snapping his fingers before returning to the hold as the robots began to fly up. They gained speed and held an arm up, crashing straight through a floor and into the main control room of the bridge.

"Deadlock broken," the computer stated.

"Ah, Midshipman Frame at last!" the Doctor called as he and Evy climbed up from the hole in the floor to greet him.

"Uh, but…but the Host!" his eyes widened, seeing the robots sitting there.

"Controller dead they divert to the next highest authority and that's me," the Doctor grinned, Evy elbowed him lightly in his side.

"There's nothing we can do. There's no power. The ship's gonna fall."

"Titanic falling," the computer repeated him.

"Yes, thank you," Evy glared up at the computer before stepping past the men and going to the far control panel, checking on the power and damage.

The ship jolted as the Doctor ran to the main wheel, "What's your first name?" he looked over at Frame.

"Alonzo," he replied.

"You're joking!" Evy turned to look at the man in shock as the Doctor turned in surprise and, at the same time as Evy, said, "You're kidding me."

"What?" he looked between the two of them, confused.

"There's something else I've always wanted to say," the Doctor breathed before grinning, "Allons-y Alonzo! Whoa!"

He spun the wheel as the ship lurched dramatically, falling straight towards the Earth's atmosphere. Frame screamed as the Doctor fought to control the wheel. An alarm sounded and the Doctor reached out a foot to try and check it, but Evy had beaten him to it, punching the button for the computer to show the impact zone to be London.

"Oh come on!" Evy shouted, before grabbing the comm. link and dialing out, "Hello, yes...could you get me Buckingham Palace please?" there was some sort of commotion on the other end as Evy held the phone away from her a moment before putting it back to her ear, "No, you listen to me! My name's Evy, I'm travelling with the Doctor, look you've got to institute Security Code 771! Get out of there!"

And then, to the confusion of Frame, Evy disappeared beneath the control panel as he and the Doctor stared out the window at the Earth growing larger at an alarming rate.

Moments later something happened.

"Now!" Evy shouted from beneath the panel. And suddenly the panels began to light up and there was a loud rumbling from the middle of the ship.

"Engine active," the computer announced, "Engine active."

The Doctor pulled the wheel back, sending Frame flying back against the wall while Evy grabbed onto the control panel. They watched as the ship barely managed to miss Buckingham Palace, sailing right over the top of it. The Doctor gasped, unable to believe his luck as he looked down at Evy who just smiled in relief.

Then a bell began to ring. They looked back to see Frame ringing the ship's bell, "Whoo-hoo!"

The Doctor and Evy laughed, "Whoo-hoo-hoo!" the Doctor joined in.

Evy rolled her eyes and walked over to Frame, putting a hand on his shoulder and leading him to sit against the wall, it was only too clear to her that, despite his relief, he was still injured. The Doctor continued to get the ship heading back to the safety of space while Evy examined the man's wound.

~8~

"Nothing too bad Mr. Frame," Evy told the man, pulling his shirt back down, after wrapping the wound with some cloth torn from her dress, "The shot passed straight through, didn't hit an artery or any organs either, very lucky. It'll be a bit painful till you can get it stitched up, but you'll be just fine."

She smiled and patted Frame on the shoulder, moving to sit next to him as the Doctor joined them.

He looked straight at Evy as she looked away, but his gaze lingered until she rolled her eyes, "All I did was reconnect the steering so that you'd be able to pull up. It was disconnected during the initial hit. You could turn the ship well enough but that was about it."

He nodded, he'd been wondering why none of his attempts at pulling the ship out of its dive had been working till the last moment. He turned to Frame, "Used the heat of re-entry to fire up the secondary storm drive," the Doctor told him, "Unsinkable, that's me."

Evy laughed, it certainly was.

"We made it," Frame smiled, resting against the wall.

"Not all of us," Evy replied, her smile fading as she looked down at her hands.

"Teleport!" the Doctor said suddenly, jumping up, "She was wearing a teleport bracelet!"

He ran out of the room before Evy could even get to her feet and follow. She helped Frame up and the two ran after him, following him into the main reception room where Mr. Copper and Rickston were still waiting.

"Rickston!" the Doctor called, "Sonic!" Rickston tossed him the screwdriver as he ran by, "Mr. Copper, the teleports, have they got emergency settings?"

"I don't know," Mr. Copper said as he and Evy joined the Doctor by the teleport controllers, "They should have."

"She fell, Mr. Copper," he grinned, getting the computer working, "She fell. What's the emergency code?"

"Uh, let me see…" Mr. Copper walked around to the computer and typed in the code.

"What the hell are you doing?" Rickston frowned, watching them.

"He might be able to bring her back," Evy said quietly, watching as the Doctor began to work on the teleport.

"If a passenger has an accident on shore leave and they're still wearing their teleport, their molecules are automatically suspended and held in stasis so that we can just trigger the shift," Mr. Copper explained.

"There!" the Doctor shouted, finishing. He turned around and a glowing, but transparent, Astrid appeared a few feet away.

"I'm falling," Astrid echoed.

"Only halfway there," the Doctor commented, moving to adjust the inner workings of the teleport, "Come on."

"I keep falling…"

"Feed back the molecule grid, boost it with the restoration matrix…"

"No!" Evy shouted, just before the teleport sparked.

"No, no, no, no!" he backed away before rushing towards it again, trying to work the wires manually, "Need more phase containment."

"Doctor…" Mr. Copper stepped forward.

"No! If I can just link up the surface suspension..."

"Doctor, she's gone."

"I just need to override the safety. I can do it."

"Doctor, let her go," Mr. Copper laid a hand on his shoulder.

The Doctor turned around to face Astrid's ghost-like figure, kicking the teleport in frustration, "I can do anything!"

Evy stepped forward, putting her hands on his face, and just looking into his eyes. The group watched silently as the Doctor physically calmed at the woman's touch. He reached up, wrapping his hands around Evy's wrists, but making no move to remove her. He looked into her eyes as well, seeing her own sorrow reflected in her tear filled eyes, "You can do anything," she whispered to him, "But not alone."

And with that, she stepped past him and knelt down at the base of the teleport controls and got to work.

The men watched her silently as she pulled out various wires, held them up to examine them, frowning at some but holding onto others. She sniffled, wiping her eye a bit with the back of her hand before getting back to work.

"There's not enough left," Mr. Copper told her gently, "The system was too badly damaged. She's just atoms. An echo with the ghost of consciousness. She's stardust," but Evy continued, "It's impossible..."

"I know and it should be," Evy replied, leaning forward to tweak a few wires, "But there…clinging to the wire work, just enough power to bind the atoms and download the consciousness back to the body…I just have to…Doctor!" she called, twisting around and holding out her hand. He quickly tossed her the sonic, "Just a bit more power…and…" she flashed the screwdriver and Astrid exploded in a bright light. Everyone covered their eyes for a moment till the light faded.

They looked over to see Astrid standing there, flesh and blood, as solid as the rest of them.

"I'm back!" Astrid shouted, looking at her hands for only a second before running across the room and lunging at Evy, pulling the girl into a hug just as she stood up, nearly knocking the Time Lady off her feet, "Thank you!" Astrid pulled back only a moment before hugging her again.

The men looked on in shock at seeing Astrid whole again.

"How?" Mr. Copper gaped. It should have been impossible.

"She's just brilliant," the Doctor breathed, staring at Evy with a fond, proud smile.

~8~

Frame walked over to them, all sitting around Astrid and talking about her ordeal, "The engines have stabilized," he told them, "We're holding steady till we get help and I've sent the SOS. A rescue ship should be here within twenty minutes. And they're digging out the records of Max Capricorn. It should be quite a story."

"They'll want to talk to all of us, I suppose," Mr. Copper frowned.

"I'd have thought so, yeah."

Mr. Copper sighed and stood up, wandering over to the reception desk and leaning against it. Evy and the Doctor shared a look before getting up to join him along with Astrid.

"I think, uh, one or two inconvenient truths might come to light," Mr. Copper mumbled as they approached him, "Still, it's my own fault, and then years in jail is better than dying."

"Doctor...uh, Miss Evy," Rickston said, coming over to them, "I never said...thank you," he reached out and hugged Evy and the Doctor to him tightly, "The funny thing is...I said Max Capricorn was falling apart. Just before the crash, I...sold all my shares, transferred them to his rivals. It's made me rich. What do you think of that?"

He smiled at them, staring at them as though he expected an answer.

Evy stepped up, "I think…" and then she slapped him, "That's what I think!" she glared at him.

Rickston stared at her in shock, along with Mr. Copper and the Doctor, Astrid just looked on with a proud smile.

Before Rickston could respond his vone suddenly rang, "Salvain?" he answered it quickly and walked off, still mildly stunned, "Those shares, I want them triple-bonded and locked."

"Finally!" Astrid laughed, "Someone gave him what he deserved."

"Oh no," Evy shook her head, "A swift kick in the arse is what he deserved."

Astrid laughed and linked arms with Evy.

"Of all the people to survive, he's not the one you would have chosen, is he?" Mr. Copper asked in general as they watched Rickston walk away, "But if you could choose, if you decide who lives and who dies..." he shrugged, "…that would make you a monster."

Evy nodded slowly, "No one is meant to have that power."

The Doctor looked over at Evy and smiled, that was one of the main teachings of Gallifrey. He was about to say something when the teleport bracelets caught his eye, "Mr. Copper..." he reached out and plucked four bracelets up, handing one to Evy and Astrid before giving one to Mr. Copper, "I think you deserve one of these."

Mr. Copper looked up, startled, seeing the smiling faces of Astrid, the Doctor, and Evy looking back at him. He quickly took the bracelet and slid it on, chuckling as the Doctor started the machine. Just before they disappeared Frame stepped up to them, saluting them, all of them saluting back before they appeared in a random field in London, the TARDIS waiting there as snow fell around them.

Astrid laughed to be back on the exotic planet Earth. Evy took her arm and they ran across the land and over to the blue box, waiting impatiently for the Doctor to catch up with Mr. Copper.

"So, Great Britain is part of, uh, 'Europee' and just across the British Channel you've got Great France and Great Germany," Mr. Copper recited some odd bit of information the Doctor had been trying to tell him on the ship.

"No, no, it's just," the Doctor sighed, "It's just France and Germany."

"Only Britain is great," Evy grinned, calling over to them.

"Oh, and they're all at war with the continent of Ham-erica?" Mr. Copper frowned.

"No, well...not yet, uh...could argue that one," the Doctor frowned but his entire countenance brightened as he finally arrived at the TARDIS, "There she is," he patted her, receiving a small shock from her as an angry retort, it seemed the box was not at all happy about being sent adrift and then stuck on Earth without her pilot, "Survive anything…" he commented, a bit put out at the TARDIS's treatment of him.

"You know, between you and me, I don't even think this snow is real," Mr. Copper told them, "I think this is the ballast from the Titanic's salvage entering the atmosphere."

"One day it might snow for real," Evy commented, looking up.

"So, I…I suppose you'll be off…" Mr. Copper looked up at the three of them.

"The open sky," the Doctor nodded.

"Actually…" Astrid spoke up, stepping away from Evy and over to Mr. Copper's side, "I…I think I might like to stay with Mr. Copper, if that's alright," she looked at Mr. Copper and then the duo.

"What?" the Doctor frowned.

"Well, it's just," Astrid flushed a bit, "Don't really got any family and…well, neither does he," she smiled gently at Mr. Copper, "I just…I wouldn't feel right leaving him alone, especially on a strange new world."

The Doctor looked at a loss for words but Evy was grinning broadly. She had seen the almost familial bond that had just begun to form between Astrid and Mr. Copper, "Astrid Peth," she stepped forward and hugged the woman tightly, "You are simply brilliant."

Astrid smiled and hugged Evy back.

"What should we do?" Mr. Copper asked Astrid as Evy stepped back.

"Give me that credit card a moment," the Doctor reached out.

"Well, it's just petty cash, spending money," Mr. Copper said, handing it over, "It's all done by computer. I…I didn't really know the currency so I thought a million might cover it."

"A million?" Evy almost choked.

"Pounds?" the Doctor wanted to clarify.

"That enough for trinkets?" Mr. Copper asked.

"Mr. Copper, a million pounds is worth 50 million credits."

"How much?" Astrid's gaped as Mr. Copper's mouth dropped open.

"50 million and 56," Evy calculated quickly.

"I…I've got money!" Mr. Copper gasped.

"Yes, you have," the Doctor smiled, handing him the card back.

"Oh my word," Mr. Copper uttered, still in shock, "Oh my Vot! Oh my goodness me! I…ya-ha!" he reached out and grabbed Astrid in a hug, both of them actually jumping in joy.

"It's all yours…planet Earth," Evy smiled.

"Now that's a retirement plan," the Doctor laughed, "But just you be careful though."

"I will," he promised quickly as Astrid nodded, "I will. Oh, we will."

"No interfering," the Doctor warned just to be safe, "I don't want any trouble. Just...just have a nice life."

"But we can have a house," he looked up at Astrid, tears in his eyes, "A proper house, with a garden, and…and a door, and...oh, Doctor, Miss Evy, I will made you proud," he ran forward and hugged them both, "And…and a kitchen with chairs, and windows, and lace..." he began to skip off with Astrid, laughing the whole time.

"Um, where are you going?" the Doctor called as he turned to unlock the TARDIS.

"Why, I have no idea!" Mr. Copper called back.

"No, me neither," the Doctor agreed, holding the door open for Evy who hesitated a moment.

"Just a moment," she said, running after Astrid and Mr. Copper, "Mr. Copper!" she shouted, stopping him. He turned around with Astrid. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a card with the Torchwood contacts on it, "If anything happens, if you get in trouble, or you need help, with anything at all, just give this number a call. Tell them that Evy gave it to you and they'll be all too willing to help you get up and about, help teach you about Earth yeah?"

Mr. Copper took the card and looked at her with thanks in his eyes, both he and Astrid knowing that they wouldn't be alone, that they wouldn't be stuck trying to figure everything out by themselves.

"Merry Christmas, Mr. Copper," Evy breathed, "Astrid," she gave them a wave before rushing back to the TARDIS and walking in, the Doctor shutting the door behind her. She looked around, happy to see that the TARDIS was alright.

She turned to the Doctor to see him look away from her quickly and step past her, throwing his jacket onto a Y-beam on his way, "Well, long day, full of emotional turmoil and cyborgs," he spun to face her, smiling, but one that didn't reach his ears, "What say we head off to bed. Good night!"

And with that, he spun around and walked up to the gantry, through the door to the hallway beyond. Evy stood there, watching him go, never looking back at her for a moment. She could feel her hearts break. That was it? That was all he said?

She looked down, tears in her eyes.

He was angry. He had to be. She hadn't been able to hear him the whole time which was doing her head in. She felt like she was being crushed, physically crushed from the sheer silence in her mind. At least when he'd been human it hadn't been a conscious act of his to ignore her…and even then, it hadn't been right after she regenerated. She was exhausted. She was tired. She was sad and frustrated and hurt and…scared. Had she really upset him so badly that he wouldn't even acknowledge her in his mind? She could understand if he wanted to hide some thoughts from her, even when she'd been privy to all his thoughts through the Link she hadn't dug too deep, respecting his privacy as much as she could. But to hide all his thoughts...

She let out a shuddering breath as a tear fell from her eye. She thought she'd done enough during the entire ordeal to try and make up for keeping her secret from him. She'd figured things out, helped save the day, brought back Astrid…but still, nothing was good enough…and then she realized. She was in the TARDIS, his pride and joy…she looked around quickly, seeing dozens if not hundreds of things she could fix or tinker with and improve.

Yes, that would make what she'd done up to him. She pulled off her gloves as she ran to one of the panels and got to work.

~8~

The Doctor had been sleeping peacefully in his bed, something he didn't do very often. Not that it was bad. It was just, Time Lord biology allowed for them to remain awake and fully alert for nearly two weeks, needing only about 12-18 hours of sleep after to renew themselves. He'd been awake for a little more than a week, but all the excitement and stress of the last few adventures had tired him out more than he thought. He'd been asleep probably around 10 hours when he was suddenly flung from his bed and onto the floor.

He sat up quickly, looking around as though expecting an attack of some sort, relaxing back against the side of his bed when he saw he was just in his room.

"What was that?" he wondered aloud, already getting to his feet to go check on the TARDIS.

He headed out of the room and down the hall, straight to the control room, only to see it practically torn apart. It seemed like someone had either tried to destroy the TARDIS from the inside or had been frantically looking for something and not found it. He ran down the steps as sparks flew over head. He jumped back, stepping on a random tool with his bare feet. He looked around, seeing tools were scattered everywhere, wires were sticking out of everything, and panel doors were thrown haphazardly around the floor.

He looked around, trying to find the source of the destruction only to hear a soft mumbling from behind the console. He cautiously walked around it, his eyes widening in shock when he saw Evy kneeling at the base of the console, half leaning in an open panel working on something. He couldn't even begin to understand what she was mumbling as her words barely made any sense.

Her hands were shaking. He could see that as she tried to twist two wires together. It sparked a bit and she jumped away. She looked around the floor around her, a franticness in her actions, before she reached for a cutting tool, only succeeding in slicing her palm open. She pulled back, hissing in pain and curled up against the console, clutching her hand to her chest as she rocked back and forth.

"Evy!" the Doctor called in shock, rushing to kneel before her. He'd never seen her in such a state before. There were smudges of grease on her face, her dress was stained and torn, even burnt in a few places, the once elegant curls of her hair now a wild mess of tangles. He reached forward, taking her head in his hands but he couldn't make eye contact with her for more than a second as her eyes flitted around the room rapidly. He reached forward, trying to pull her away from the console, only to have her twist out of his grip.

"No!" she shouted, turning to try and get back to the panel she'd been working on, "I have to fix it!" she reached out, grabbing the wires despite her hand, now smearing her blood over everything, "I have to fix it, he won't be angry anymore...if I just..."

He shook his head, reaching out and wrapping his arms around her waist, heaving as he pulled her back and half dragged her, kicking and screaming, towards the med-bay. Something was seriously wrong.

He managed to get her onto an examination table but she was far too frantic, struggling to get out of his grip as he tried to hold her down. He looked around quickly, finally seeing a sedative gun a few inches away. He reached out and grabbed it, moving to sedate her but her screams intensified.

"No!" she shrieked, "Please no! Not again! Please! Please! No!"

He hesitated only a moment at the sounds of her pleas, she was far more frightened of the sedative gun than anything else. But he caught sight of her hand, it had to be done. He pushed her down and pressed the gun to her neck, injecting her with the formula specified for Time Lords. Moments later she was completely out.

He slumped back against a chair next to the table, breathing hard from exertion, completely shocked at seeing her in such a state. What on Earth had gotten her that riled up? He reached forward, brushing a hair away from her face and tried desperately to read her mind…but it was no use. She was unconscious, her mind wasn't active, and so there was nothing to read on the surface of her mind. Had he been Linked to her, he would have a continuous connection not only to her but to her mind and her feelings as well. He'd be able to enter her mind even if she were asleep, but not now.

He sighed, getting up and moving to clean the cut on her hand, spraying it with a healing solution and wrapping it in a bandage. It was a rather clean cut, it would heal quickly with help from the TARDIS.

She would be unconscious for at least two hours, he could have gone back into the console room and tried to fix whatever Evy had done, or at least straightened up, but he just…couldn't bring himself to leave her side.

Why had this happened?

A small monitor he'd hooked up to scan her beeped and he looked over, his eyes widening at the results. She was exhausted, completely drained and apparently there were remnants of regenerative energy being filtered through her system. She'd been containing the energies within her the whole time, he realized. Containing post regeneration energy was painful, often taxing the body more than the actual regeneration.

Regeneration usually required sleep of some sort for a period of at least six hours or more…Evy hadn't had any. The regeneration would usually leave the Time Lord with the equivalent of two weeks awake, but to hold the energies in afterwards could elongate that time to almost four weeks of sleep deprivation. If Evy had done that, the exhaustion and strain would make her mind less up to par than normal, it wouldn't be functioning properly. She would be more susceptible to her emotions…and he could already tell that this version of her was more emotional than her last.

But how hadn't he noticed that?

He should have sensed it! He should have heard her…and he realized, she'd been hiding her thoughts about it. Like when her mind had gone from one topic to counting the glass shards Astrid had dropped. She'd been hiding...

He stiffened, a thought hitting him and he quickly examined his mental shields only to find that they had been up at full strength…he hadn't even noticed. He'd shot them up when he realized Evy was a Time Lady, simply for the fact that she had been able to read his thoughts all that time, he hadn't felt the need to block his thoughts from his people when he'd thought they were gone, but he could have sworn he'd lowered them when he found out she was his Link…but if Evy's reaction was anything to go on…he had not. It was easy to forget the shields were up once they were up, but that was no excuse! Having her Link block his thoughts so soon after regenerating would not help the situation.

He quickly dropped his mental shields, not wanting the same thing to happen. He never wanted her to be in this much pain because of him, he wouldn't want anyone to be so pained.

He supposed his actions towards her the entire night hadn't helped. There had been so many times he'd caught himself staring at her now that he could finally notice her, or watching her work, or just holding her to him that he'd force himself to pull away, to focus on anything else. They were in the midst of a life threatening scenario, other people could have died and he was staring at her when he should have been helping them. There had been times, when she had done something amazing, like fixing comm. with the bridge or figuring out how to save the engines where he couldn't help but be angry and disappointed with himself for not thinking of it, but amazed with her for doing so. He realized now, she had no idea what he was thinking when he did so, she probably felt he was rejecting her or angry with her instead. He should have just…he should have treated her better.

This regeneration, it seemed, was more sensitive to him. Not having him in her mind after centuries of being there must have caused a terrible shock and backlash, especially coupled with the death of her brother, the trauma of the Year-That-Never-Was, and her regeneration.

And then there was the sedative. What was that about?

He frowned in concern, turning his attention on Evy, stroking her hair as she continued to sleep.

~8~

Two hours later to the second, Evy's eyes fluttered open. He leaned over to see she seemed confused, but much calmer than she had been, "Doctor?" she frowned, seeing she was in the med-bay, "Why am I here?"

"You were a bit frantic before," he told her, helping her to sit up, "I had to get you in here to rest."

He helped her stand, conscious of the exhaustion she would be facing now that the regeneration pains were over. He tightened his grip on her waist as she stumbled, nearly falling after she stood. He slowly led her out of the med-bay and into the halls.

"Oh no!" she gasped, remembering the mess she'd made in the control room as they passed the door to it, "I'm sorry!" she pushed herself out of his arms and moved towards it but he pulled her back into his arms.

"I've already checked the TARDIS," he reassured her, pulling her on, "Nothing seriously needs to be fixed, you didn't break her. I'll clean it later…right now though, you need to sleep off the regeneration."

He led her down a hall and towards her room, it was a small, light blue colored room with a small bed with a dark blue duvet. There was a small bookcase and a little desk, but the rest was sparse. He brought her over to the bed and sat her down, kneeling down to look up at her, "Evy…" he hesitated, seeing the strain still in her eyes, "Before…I had to sedate you…you didn't react very well to the sight of the sedation gun…I just was wondering…"

"Please don't ask," she cut him off, her voice shaking, "Please. I'd rather not tell you, it's…it's not something I'd even want you to know if we Linked."

He blinked. Whatever it was that happened to her, it had to have been truly bad for her to not want him to know. But he wasn't going to push, not now. Not after what had just happened. He nodded, getting up and stepping out of the room to allow her privacy to sleep.

He stepped into the control room and began to clean up, not very tired anymore.

~8~

It hadn't taken all that long to get things sorted, perhaps four or five hours at most. He was actually feeling a bit worn out now, still a bit off from being woken so abruptly and being so thrown by Evy's breakdown. Speaking of which…he wandered down the corridor, pausing by Evy's door.

He opened it slowly, careful to not let the light from the hall into the room should he wake her. He peeked in to see her lying on her side on the bed, now dressed in a pair of blue and black flannel pajama bottoms and a blue tank top. Her back was to the door, but she seemed to be having a bit of trouble in her sleep. She was shifting, he could sense she was asleep as he wasn't hearing her thoughts, but she seemed to be almost in the middle of a nightmare.

He frowned, wanting to help her…

Before he even realized what he was doing, he found himself setting himself down on the edge of her bed, and lying down beside her, his chest to her back. He reached out, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her towards him gently, just holding her to him. The reaction was almost instant as her body relaxed and her breathing evened out. He had only enough time to form a small smile before he too fell asleep to the gentle sound of Evy's soft breaths.

A/N: Hmmm...Evy's very set on the limits of Time Lord authority isn't she? I wonder what will happen when they go to Mars? And I so wanted someone to slap Rickston for how he was so happy to be rich while so many had died, I thought Evy should have that honor. She's now got no problem smacking the Doctor so she'd definitely have no issues with slapping other people. I felt so bad writing Evy like that at the end, but I figure she's been through so much, it had to catch up with her eventually.

Just a note on a question that was asked, Evy's power, her telekenesis, puts a serious strain on her mind whenever she uses it. I've read somewhere that sometimes a severe strain to the mind can cause nosebleeds, I think this can happen with things like brain tumors and such. For Evy she strains her mind so much that her body is strained as well and her nose starts to bleed because of it, like a sign/warning that she should stop. Her nose bled a bit during LOTTL because she used her powers to fling the Master's laser screwdriver away when he turned it on Martha and her family on the Valiant. In that chapter it wasn't the Doctor who did it, but Evy :)

Next chapter we finally get Donna! Yay! And...Evy gets a rather useful gift from the Doctor and the TARDIS.